Water New York City

New York Mayor Edward I. Koch declared a drought emergency and announced tough conservation measures, including a ban on watering lawns. The city also banned all ornamental uses of water, such as fountains, waterfalls and reflecting pools, even if they recirculate the water. "New York won't be as green as usual this year," Koch said. "Tough times require tough measures, and the drought emergency will be a very tough time."

Residents used to call it the "champagne of municipal water." The mineral-rich water that flowed unfiltered from reservoirs in Upstate New York won national taste tests and, at one point, even was bottled and sold across the United States. Today, New York City tap water is flowing into hard times. Development on land near the city's reservoirs has led to increasing amounts of pollution entering the water supply.

Residents used to call it the "champagne of municipal water." The mineral-rich water that flowed unfiltered from reservoirs in Upstate New York won national taste tests and, at one point, even was bottled and sold across the United States. Today, New York City tap water is flowing into hard times. Development on land near the city's reservoirs has led to increasing amounts of pollution entering the water supply.

New York Mayor Edward I. Koch declared a drought emergency and announced tough conservation measures, including a ban on watering lawns. The city also banned all ornamental uses of water, such as fountains, waterfalls and reflecting pools, even if they recirculate the water. "New York won't be as green as usual this year," Koch said. "Tough times require tough measures, and the drought emergency will be a very tough time."

What looks, tastes, and smells clean enough to drink, but isn't? Boston's water, according to federal standards, and the water of thousands of communities across the United States, including New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Scranton, Pa., and Portland, Me. For Bostonians familiar with the pristine woods surrounding the sparkling blue water of the reservoirs that supply the city, the news is hard to swallow.

November 19, 2008 | Margaret Wertheim, Margaret Wertheim is a science writer who has consulted for WaterAID America on public outreach.

Today is World Toilet Day. You might chuckle or blush, but it's worth taking a moment to acknowledge what the humble loo has done for us. Though the word "toilet" is often considered declasse and even rude to utter aloud, much of modern life would not be possible without the commode. Ask yourself this: If you had to live without toilets or electricity, which would you choose?

A rainy, snowy fall and early winter are quickly quenching the remnants of the two-year drought along the East Coast. The Christmas storm that blew across Pennsylvania, New York and New England was icing on the cake for soil moisture and groundwater watchers, said Randy Durlin of the U.S. Geological Survey in Harrisburg. Even before the storm, Durlin said Friday, "we've seen great recovery. It's been perfect, it's just been slow rain. The ground didn't freeze, so it soaked in."

Imaginary Girls A Novel Nova Ren Suma Dutton: 348 pp., $17.99ages 14 and older Sisterly bonds are complicated, none more so than those of teenagers whose parents are, in effect, absent. Having a barfly for a mother and fathers who fled the confines of domestic life, the half sisters at the center of the young-adult novel "Imaginary Girls" turn their relationship into a surrogate mother-daughter pairing that begins as idol worship and evolves into something even less healthy.

In the case to persuade Hollywood studios to engage real directors more often, not just for their awards fodder, add "Dark Water" as Exhibit B, right after Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins." Brazilian Walter Salles, who previously directed the Oscar-nominated films "Central Station" and "The Motorcycle Diaries," guides this stylish remake through treacherous territory to create a distressing, subtly suspenseful film full of emotional resonance.

In many California school cafeterias, there's no free water to drink. Surprised? "Everyone I talked to says, 'You're kidding,' " said state Sen. Mark Leno (D- San Francisco). Leno has introduced legislation to change that. His bill requiring schools to offer drinking water at no charge to students has passed the Senate and Assembly and awaits the governor's signature — a fairly sure thing because the governor sponsored the bill. "As we all know, young people are constantly bombarded by advertisements and pressure from their peers to consume junk beverages that are high in calories and sugar.